| Old Revolving Credit Card still on my Credit Report |
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lowbrow
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| Old Revolving Credit Card still on my Credit Report |
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I've been trying to stay on top of my credit report lately and found two old $0 balance revolving credit cards that were still on it. Both accounts had been opened in about 1995-96 and were for clothing retailers. It took me awhile to figure out who it was from the numonics on the credit report but traced them down and sent them both letters. One closed the account right away and the other just isnt doing anything. I call them and they say they have to get it in a letter to a certain address. I do that and then nothing. Well they did send me a form asking me questions I cant answer like what my address was (too long ago and I was living all over at the time) and account number (all i have is the last 4 numbers off the credit report). I filled it out best I could and still nothing.
Is there anything else I can do to get this open account closed and off my report??
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Wed Feb 09, 2005 5:03 pm |
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trshubby
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I may be wrong, and someone please correct me if I am, but you may be better off leaving this "open" revolving account on your report. You obviously won't be using it so it doesn't pose any risk to your credit rating.
Debt - to - Credit Limit percentages and the length of time you have had the account play a part in your rating. If the credit limit on this card is, for instance, $1,000 and you don't owe anything on it then your debt to credit ratio is 0%. That is very good. The credit agencies love it when you don't over-extend yourself.
Regards,
BobG
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Wed Feb 09, 2005 5:24 pm |
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lowbrow
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Hmm, that is very interesting. I guess I knew about the ratio thing but I also thought that having too many open accounts looked bad. At the moment I have 7 open accounts on my credit report. Thats including:
2 Real Estate (that should be disappearing soon)
3 Revolving Credit Cards (one being that old one we are discussing)
1 Auto Loan
1 Student Loan
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Wed Feb 09, 2005 9:23 pm |
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chiron
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quote:
...and off my report??
Lowbrow, I see no indications that your number of accounts would require you to close any credit cards - three will definitely not hurt your score, and the truth of the matter is, if the bureaus are reporting that you have a low or no balance and a reported maximum, such that under 30% of maximum revolves for that older account, then you may wish to consider it your good friend... reason being, your credit history, the time you have had credit, maxxes out at 20 years, and is a slice of about 35% of your aggregate report score tally.
In fact, instead of fighting with the retailer, you might want to try a whole different tactic, and ask the retailer if they can reissue you a card under the same account - make it known that is your one requirement, since a new account won't do you any good. If you get that old account going and spend a few bucks every so often (and then pay it off), you might just find this little nemesis to be an advantage for you, depending on whether or not you have older establishing credit history...
That's just my two cents though - if you are sure you want that little devil off your reports, the best way is to ignore the retailer, and go right to the bureaus with a dispute letter. You can do that yourself, or save time (but spend a little cash) and shoot over to someone like Veracity Credit Consultants (I put their link in my signature line).
It's free to talk to them via web chat, often they'll be happy to call you for free as well, and while it may require that you enroll in their credit repair program to get that inaccurate data removed, my friends and family members who have gone through Veracity (I don't know about other competition, but probably similar?) spent an average of about $300 to go up anywhere from 20-100 points, depending on their credit problems.
For the money, it's practically like taking a class in personal finance, and the removed report data and score boosts are a side bonus. Credit repair with one of the big firms can be a great way to not only clean up your reports, but get some valuable knowledge to keep your credit standing in the green for years to come!
Take care, and good luck!
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Thu Feb 10, 2005 9:32 pm |
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xblue4
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I wouldn't worry about closing the account. An account that has a zero balance from 8 or 9 years ago is good. If you close the account and it is removed from your credit report, you have just lost that time unless you have other credit from the same time period.
For example, if you didn't open any other credit account until 2003, you have lost a valuable record showing 8 or 9 years of good financial responsibility and it would actually hurt your credit rating. Of course I do not know your financial history, but I wanted to point this out.
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Sun Feb 27, 2005 8:00 am |
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stonegatherer
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Except for bankruptcy, I think 7 years is the limit for anything on your report
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Fri Mar 25, 2005 7:05 am |
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stonegatherer
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lowbrow,
you have to figure out where you lived at that time when you applied cfor a CC or opened an account with the gas/phone/electric company ...
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Fri Mar 25, 2005 7:10 am |
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Rolo
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hehe, I ran into that "Where did you live in 1997" and I answered the question, after much memory jogging. They didn't buy it. WTF? I ran through all my address history (I move a lot also) and they were hung up on this one address. It turned out that the address was totally WRONG.
Anyway, the open account shouldn't hurt you. Age of accounts does impact your score significantly and this one could actually help.
Send a dispute letter to the credit reporting agency (CRA); they have 30 days to prove it or get rid of it. Just report that the status should be "closed". The will likely comply since it's not worth the trouble...OR...do a quick check, see that it is not open, and update accordingly.
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Fri Mar 25, 2005 8:43 pm |
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